Automatic operation detection on protected field

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for automatic operation detection on protected fields. A data model configuration can be used to specify which attributes of a data model used by a cloud-based application are protected by a data security provider monitoring communications between the application and a client device. A determination can be made automatically which operations of the cloud-based application are supported for protected fields. The cloud-based application can be configured to enable/disable certain features, such as validators, auto complete, search operators, etc. according to whether the attributes are protected fields.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a non-provisional application of, and claimsthe benefit and priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/245,608, filed Oct. 23, 2015, entitled “AUTOMATICOPERATION DETECTION ON PROTECTED FIELD,” the entire contents of whichare incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There is a complex web of regulations and policies that govern dataprivacy. The most frequently cited are the Health Insurance Portabilityand Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the Payment Card Industry DataSecurity Standard (PCI DSS). European data protection laws often go evenfurther, prohibiting any personally identifiable information from movingoutside EU or country borders. This puts some obvious limits onunrestrained use of the public cloud. Organizations are also concernedthat law enforcement or government officials could potentially accessdata directly from their cloud service provider, bypassing the companycompletely.

For example, European data protection laws prohibit personal data thatcan be linked to a specific person from moving outside of European Union(EU) or even specific country borders. Such laws can prohibitorganizations from storing or processing data in the cloud becauseinfrastructure providers may store, process or back up data in multipleglobal locations. In the U.S., regulations such as the Health InsurancePortability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) require maintaining securityand privacy around personal health information (PHI). The complexity ofdoing so may dissuade healthcare providers from using cost-effectivepublic cloud-based solutions that could slow the rising cost ofhealthcare.

One way to get around the issues of data security, residency, andprivacy is to obfuscate the data that goes into the cloud. Two commonmethods of obfuscation are encryption and tokenization. Using either ofthese approaches ensures that data remains undecipherable to prying eyeswhile the organization enjoys the benefits of cloud-based applications.Encryption uses algorithmic schemes to transform plain text informationinto a non-readable cipher text. A key (or algorithm) is required todecrypt the information and return it to its original plain text format.Tokenization is an increasingly popular approach for the protection ofsensitive data. It involves the use of data substitution with a token(or alias) as a replacement for the real values. Unlike encryption,which uses a mathematical process to transform data, tokenization usesrandom characters to substitute for the actual data. There is no “key”that can decipher the token and turn it back into real data.

In the process of tokenization, the sensitive data is sent to acentralized and highly secure server called a “vault” where it is storedsecurely. At the same time, a random unique set of characters (thetoken) is generated and returned for use in place of the real data. Thevault manager maintains a reference database that allows the token valueto be exchanged for the real data when it is needed again. Meanwhile thetoken value, which has no meaning whatsoever to prying eyes, can be usedin various cloud-based applications as a reliable substitute for thereal data.

Merchants often use tokenized data as a substitute for sensitive creditcard information after a sale has concluded. This allows a merchant toperform sales analytics on customers' transactions without putting thereal card data at risk. What's more, PCI prohibits the use of live carddata for anything other than the payment transaction. By tokenizingpost-transaction data, merchants can reduce their PCI burden because nosensitive data exists in their backend systems.

The same methods can be applied for other types of sensitive data,including patient records, customer account records, human resourcesinformation and so on. Tokenizing the real data takes it out of harm'sway and addresses the requirements for security, residency, and privacy.Tokenized data can be stored and used anywhere—even in the cloud—becauseit cannot be turned back into the real data if lost or stolen.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following portion of this disclosure presents a simplified summaryof one or more innovations, embodiments, and/or examples found withinthis disclosure for at least the purpose of providing a basicunderstanding of the subject matter. This summary does not attempt toprovide an extensive overview of any particular embodiment or example.Additionally, this summary is not intended to identify key/criticalelements of an embodiment or example or to delineate the scope of thesubject matter of this disclosure. Accordingly, one purpose of thissummary may be to present some innovations, embodiments, and/or examplesfound within this disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to a moredetailed description presented later.

In exemplary embodiments, a method to be performed by a computing deviceis provided. The method includes receiving a data model configurationindicating one or more attributes of a data model used by a cloud-basedapplication as protected by a data security provider monitoringcommunications between the cloud-based application and a client device,determining one or more protected fields using the data modelconfiguration, determining one or more actions that can be performedusing the one or more protected fields, and configuring the cloud-basedapplication based on the one or more actions that can be performed usingthe one or more protected fields.

In some embodiments, receiving the data model configuration comprisesreceiving information from the data security provider. Optionally,determining the one or more protected fields using the data modelconfiguration comprises determining which attributes of the data modelhave been designated as protected fields. Optionally, determining theone or more actions that can be performed using the one or moreprotected fields comprises determine supported actions. Optionally,determining the one or more actions that can be performed using the oneor more protected fields comprises determine unsupported actions.

In some embodiments, configuring the cloud-based application based onthe one or more actions that can be performed using the one or moreprotected fields comprises enabling a feature. Optionally, configuringthe cloud-based application based on the one or more actions that can beperformed using the one or more protected fields comprises disabling afeature.

In exemplary embodiments, a non-transitory machine readable storagemedium is provided for having instructions stored thereon that whenexecuted by one or more processors cause the one or more processors toperform a method. The method includes receiving a data modelconfiguration indicating one or more attributes of a data model used bya cloud-based application as protected by a data security providermonitoring communications between the cloud-based application and aclient device, determining one or more protected fields using the datamodel configuration, determining one or more actions that can beperformed using the one or more protected fields, and configuring thecloud-based application based on the one or more actions that can beperformed using the one or more protected fields.

In some embodiments, configuring the cloud-based application based onthe one or more actions that can be performed using the one or moreprotected fields comprises enabling a feature. Optionally, configuringthe cloud-based application based on the one or more actions that can beperformed using the one or more protected fields comprises disabling afeature.

In some embodiments, configuring the cloud-based application based onthe one or more actions that can be performed using the one or moreprotected fields comprises enabling a feature. Optionally, configuringthe cloud-based application based on the one or more actions that can beperformed using the one or more protected fields comprises disabling afeature.

In exemplary embodiments, a system id provide for that includes aprocessor and a memory storing a set of instructions which when executedby the processor cause the processor to perform a method. The methodincludes receiving a data model configuration indicating one or moreattributes of a data model used by a cloud-based application asprotected by a data security provider monitoring communications betweenthe cloud-based application and a client device, determining one or moreprotected fields using the data model configuration, determining one ormore actions that can be performed using the one or more protectedfields, and configuring the cloud-based application based on the one ormore actions that can be performed using the one or more protectedfields.

In some embodiments, configuring the cloud-based application based onthe one or more actions that can be performed using the one or moreprotected fields comprises enabling a feature. Optionally, configuringthe cloud-based application based on the one or more actions that can beperformed using the one or more protected fields comprises disabling afeature.

In some embodiments, configuring the cloud-based application based onthe one or more actions that can be performed using the one or moreprotected fields comprises enabling a feature. Optionally, configuringthe cloud-based application based on the one or more actions that can beperformed using the one or more protected fields comprises disabling afeature.

A further understanding of the nature of and equivalents to the subjectmatter of this disclosure (as well as any inherent or express advantagesand improvements provided) should be realized in addition to the abovesection by reference to the remaining portions of this disclosure, anyaccompanying drawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to reasonably describe and illustrate those innovations,embodiments, and/or examples found within this disclosure, reference maybe made to one or more accompanying drawings. The additional details orexamples used to describe the one or more accompanying drawings shouldnot be considered as limitations to the scope of any of the claimedinventions, any of the presently described embodiments and/or examples,or the presently understood best mode of any innovations presentedwithin this disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment for developingcloud-based applications in one embodiment according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system providing privacy, residency, andsecurity with cloud-based applications in one embodiment according tothe present invention.

FIG. 3A is an illustration of a user interface (UI) page associated witha cloud-based application when viewed using a client device from withinan enterprise infrastructure system in one embodiment according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 3B is an illustration of a UI page associated with a cloud-basedapplication when viewed using from within a cloud infrastructure systemin one embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating attributes shared betweenentities in one embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a message sequence chart providing forself-describing configurations of a privacy, residency, and securityserver in one embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a message sequence chart for utilizingself-describing configurations in one embodiment according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 is an illustration depicting various layers used with respect toa cloud-based application with self-describing configurations inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method for supporting the sharing of the sametable for encrypted and clear text columns in one embodiment accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method for automatic operation detection forprotected fields in one embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a method for federated search in oneembodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 depicts a simplified diagram of a distributed system forimplementing one of the embodiments.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary computer system, in which variousembodiments of the present invention may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

I. Introduction

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofembodiments of the invention. However, it will be apparent that variousembodiments may be practiced without these specific details. Forexample, circuits, systems, networks, processes, and other componentsmay be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscurethe embodiments in unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-knowncircuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may be shownwithout unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.The figures and description are not intended to be restrictive. Rather,the ensuing description of the exemplary embodiments will provide thoseskilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing anexemplary embodiment. It should be understood that various changes maybe made in the function and arrangement of elements without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appendedclaims.

Also, it is noted that individual embodiments may be described as aprocess which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flowdiagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchartmay describe the operations as a sequential process, many of theoperations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition,the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminatedwhen its operations are completed, but could have additional steps notincluded in a figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function,a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process correspondsto a function, its termination can correspond to a return of thefunction to the calling function or the main function.

The term “machine-readable medium” or “computer-readable medium”includes, but is not limited to, portable or non-portable storagedevices, optical storage devices, wireless channels, and various othermediums capable of storing, containing or carrying instruction(s) and/ordata. A code segment or machine-executable instructions may represent aprocedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine,a module, a software package, a class, or any combination ofinstructions, data structures, or program statements. A code segment maybe coupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passingand/or receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, or memorycontents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed,forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including memorysharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, etc.

Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software,firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or anycombination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middlewareor microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessarytasks may be stored in a machine readable or computer-readable medium.One or more processors may perform the necessary tasks.

Systems depicted in some of the figures may be provided in variousconfigurations. In some embodiments, the systems may be configured as adistributed system where one or more components of the system aredistributed across one or more networks in a cloud computing system. Infurther embodiments, the systems may be configured as a single systemwhere one or more components of the system incorporated into a singlestructure or package.

II. Cloud-Based Application Development

An application refers to a software program, which on execution performsspecific desired tasks. In general, several applications are executed ina run-time environment containing one or more operating systems (“OSs”),virtual machines (e.g., supporting Java™ programming language), devicedrivers, etc. Developers often use Application Development Frameworks(“ADFs”) (which are by themselves applications) forimplementing/developing desired applications. An ADF provides a set ofpre-defined code/data modules that can be directly/indirectly used inthe development of an application. An ADF may also provide tools such asan integrated development environment (“IDE”), code generators,debuggers, etc. In general, an ADF simplifies application development byproviding re-usable components which can be used by applicationdevelopers to define user interfaces (“UIs”) and application logic by,for example, selecting components to perform desired tasks and definingthe appearance, behavior, and interactions of the selected components.Some ADFs, such as “Oracle ADF” from Oracle Corp., are based on amodel-view-controller (“MVC”) design pattern that promotes loosecoupling and easier application development and maintenance.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment 100 for developingcloud-based applications in one embodiment according to the presentinvention. In the illustrated embodiment, system environment 100includes cloud infrastructure system 102 that provides cloud services toone or more client computing devices 104, 106, and 108. Client computingdevices 104, 106, and 108 may be used by users to interact with cloudinfrastructure system 102. Client computing devices 104, 106, and 108may be configured to operate a client application such as a Web browser,a proprietary client application (e.g., Oracle Forms), or some otherapplication, which may be used by a user of the client computing deviceto interact with cloud infrastructure system 102 to use servicesprovided by cloud infrastructure system 102.

Cloud infrastructure system 102 may have other components than thosedepicted. Further, the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is only one example ofa cloud infrastructure system that may incorporate an embodiment of theinvention. In some other embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 102may have more or fewer components than shown in FIG. 1, may combine twoor more components, or may have a different configuration or arrangementof components.

Client computing devices 104, 106, and 108 may be portable handhelddevices (e.g., an iPhone®, cellular telephone, an iPad®, computingtablet, a personal digital assistant (“PDA”)) or wearable devices (e.g.,a Google Glass® head mounted display), running software such asMicrosoft Windows Mobile®, and/or a variety of mobile OSs such as iOS,Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry 10, Palm OS, and the like, and beingInternet, e-mail, short message service (“SMS”), Blackberry®, or othercommunication protocol enabled. Client computing devices 104, 106, and108 can be general-purpose personal computers including, by way ofexample, personal computers and/or laptop computers running variousversions of Microsoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linux OSs.Client computing devices 104, 106, and 108 can be workstation computersrunning any of a variety of commercially available UNIX® or UNIX-likeOSs, including without limitation the variety of GNU/Linux OSs, such asfor example, Google Chrome OS. Alternatively, or in addition, clientcomputing devices 104, 106, and 108 may be any other electronic device,such as a thin-client computer, an Internet-enabled gaming system (e.g.,a Microsoft Xbox gaming console with or without a Kinect® gesture inputdevice), and/or a personal messaging device, capable of communicatingover network(s) 110.

Although exemplary system environment 100 is shown with three clientcomputing devices, any number of client computing devices may besupported. Other devices such as devices with sensors, etc., mayinteract with cloud infrastructure system 102.

Network(s) 110 may facilitate communications and exchange of databetween clients 104, 106, and 108 and cloud infrastructure system 102.Network(s) 110 may be any type of network familiar to those skilled inthe art that can support data communications using any of a variety ofcommercially-available protocols, including without limitationtransmission control protocol/Internet protocol (“TCP/IP”), systemsnetwork architecture (“SNA”), Internet packet exchange (“IPX”),AppleTalk, etc. Merely by way of example, network(s) 110 can be a localarea network (“LAN”), such as one based on Ethernet, Token-Ring and/orthe like. Network(s) 110 can be a wide-area network and the Internet. Itcan include a virtual network, including without limitation a virtualprivate network (“VPN”), an intranet, an extranet, a public switchedtelephone network (“PSTN”), an infra-red network, a wireless network(e.g., a network operating under any of the Institute of Electrical andElectronics (“IEEE”) 802.11 suite of protocols, Bluetooth®, and/or anyother wireless protocol); and/or any combination of these and/or othernetworks.

Cloud infrastructure system 102 may comprise one or more computersand/or servers. These computer systems or servers may be composed of oneor more general purpose computers, specialized server computers(including, by way of example, personal computer (“PC”) servers, UNIX®servers, mid-range servers, mainframe computers, rack-mounted servers,etc.), server farms, server clusters, or any other appropriatearrangement and/or combination. In various embodiments, one or morecomputer systems or servers associated with cloud infrastructure system102 may be adapted to run one or more services or software applicationsdescribed in the foregoing disclosure. For example, one or more computersystems or servers associated with cloud infrastructure system 102 maycorrespond to a server for performing processing described hereinaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

One or more computer systems or servers associated with cloudinfrastructure system 102 may run an OS including any of those discussedabove, as well as any commercially available server OS. One or morecomputer systems or servers associated with cloud infrastructure system102 may also run any of a variety of additional server applicationsand/or mid-tier applications, including hypertext transport protocol(“HTTP”) servers, file transfer protocol (“FTP”) servers, common gatewayinterface (“CGI”) servers, JAVA® servers, database servers, and thelike.

In certain embodiments, services provided by cloud infrastructure system102 may include a host of services that are made available to users ofcloud infrastructure system 102 on demand, such as online data storageand backup solutions, Web-based e-mail services, hosted office suitesand document collaboration services, database processing, managedtechnical support services, and the like. Services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 102 can dynamically scale to meet the needs of itsusers. A specific instantiation of a service provided by cloudinfrastructure system 102 is referred to herein as a “service instance.”In general, any service made available to a user via a communicationnetwork, such as the Internet, from a cloud service provider's system isreferred to as a “cloud service.” Typically, in a public cloudenvironment, servers and systems that make up the cloud serviceprovider's system are different from the customer's own on-premisesservers and systems. For example, a cloud service provider's system mayhost an application, and a user may, via a communication network such asthe Internet, on demand, order and use the application.

In some examples, a service instance instantiated by cloudinfrastructure 102 may include protected computer network access tostorage, a hosted database, a hosted Web server, a software application,or other service provided by a cloud vendor to a user, or as otherwiseknown in the art. For example, a service instance instantiated by cloudinfrastructure 102 can include password-protected access to remotestorage on the cloud through the Internet. As another example, a serviceinstance instantiated by cloud infrastructure 102 can include a Webservice-based hosted relational database and a script-languagemiddleware engine for private use by a networked developer. As anotherexample, a service instance instantiated by cloud infrastructure 102 caninclude access to an email software application hosted on a cloudvendor's Web site.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 102 may include asuite of applications, middleware, development service, and databaseservice offerings that are delivered to a customer in a self-service,subscription-based, elastically scalable, reliable, highly available,and secure manner. An example of such a cloud infrastructure system asembodied in cloud infrastructure service 102 is “Oracle Public Cloud”from Oracle Corp.

Cloud infrastructure system 102 may provide the cloud services viadifferent deployment models. For example, services may be provided undera public cloud model in which cloud infrastructure system 102 is ownedby an organization selling cloud services (e.g., owned by Oracle Corp.)and the services are made available to the general public or differentindustry enterprises. As another example, services may be provided undera private cloud model in which cloud infrastructure system 102 isoperated solely for a single organization and may provide services forone or more entities within the organization. The cloud services mayalso be provided under a community cloud model in which cloudinfrastructure system 102 and the services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 102 are shared by several organizations in arelated community. The cloud services may also be provided under ahybrid cloud model, which is a combination of two or more differentmodels.

In some embodiments, the services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 102 may include one or more services provided under software as aservice (“SaaS”) category, platform as a service (“PaaS”) category,infrastructure as a service (“IaaS”) category, MBaaS category, or othercategories of services including hybrid services. In some embodiments,the services provided by cloud infrastructure system 102 may include,without limitation, application services, platform services,infrastructure services, backend services, etc. In some examples,application services may be provided by cloud infrastructure system 102via a SaaS platform. The SaaS platform may be configured to providecloud services that fall under the SaaS category. For example, the SaaSplatform may provide capabilities to build and deliver a suite ofon-demand applications on an integrated development and deploymentplatform. The SaaS platform may manage and control the underlyingsoftware and infrastructure for providing the SaaS services. Byutilizing the services provided by the SaaS platform, customers canutilize applications executing on the cloud infrastructure system.Customers can acquire the application services without the need forcustomers to purchase separate licenses and support. Various differentSaaS services may be provided. Examples include, without limitation,services that provide solutions for sales performance management,enterprise integration, and business flexibility for largeorganizations.

In some embodiments, platform services may be provided by cloudinfrastructure system 102 via a PaaS platform. The PaaS platform may beconfigured to provide cloud services that fall under the PaaS category.Examples of platform services may include without limitation servicesthat enable organizations (such as Oracle) to consolidate existingapplications on a shared, common architecture, as well as the ability tobuild new applications that leverage the shared services provided by theplatform. The PaaS platform may manage and control the underlyingsoftware and infrastructure for providing the PaaS services. Customerscan acquire the PaaS services provided by cloud infrastructure system102 without the need for customers to purchase separate licenses andsupport. Examples of platform services include, without limitation,“Oracle Java Cloud Service” (“JCS”) from Oracle Corp., “Oracle DatabaseCloud Service” (“DBCS”) from Oracle Corp., and others.

By utilizing the services provided by the PaaS platform, customers canemploy programming languages and tools supported by cloud infrastructuresystem 102 and also control the deployed services. In some embodiments,platform services provided by cloud infrastructure system 102 mayinclude database cloud services, middleware cloud services (e.g., OracleFusion Middleware services), and Java cloud services. In one embodiment,database cloud services may support shared service deployment modelsthat enable organizations to pool database resources and offer customersa Database as a Service in the form of a database cloud. Middlewarecloud services may provide a platform for customers to develop anddeploy various business applications, and Java cloud services mayprovide a platform for customers to deploy Java applications, in thecloud infrastructure system.

Various different infrastructure services may be provided by an IaaSplatform in cloud infrastructure system 102. The infrastructure servicesfacilitate the management and control of the underlying computingresources, such as storage, networks, and other fundamental computingresources for customers utilizing services provided by the SaaS platformand the PaaS platform.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 102 may providecomprehensive management of cloud services (e.g., SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, andMBaaS services) in the cloud infrastructure system. In one embodiment,cloud management functionality may include capabilities forprovisioning, managing, and tracking a customer's subscription receivedby cloud infrastructure system 102, and the like. In variousembodiments, cloud infrastructure system 102 may be adapted toautomatically provision, manage, and track a customer's subscription toservices offered by cloud infrastructure system 102. A customer, via asubscription order, may order one or more services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 102. Cloud infrastructure system 102 then performsprocessing to provide the services in the customer's subscription order.

In one embodiment, cloud management functionality may be provided by oneor more modules, such as order management and monitoring module 114.These modules may include or be provided using one or more computersand/or servers, which may be general purpose computers, specializedserver computers, server farms, server clusters, or any otherappropriate arrangement and/or combination.

In exemplary operation, a customer using client computing devices 104,106 or 108, may interact with cloud infrastructure system 102 byrequesting one or more services provided by cloud infrastructure system102. The customer may issue service request 134 cloud infrastructuresystem 102 using a variety of means. Service request 134 may includeplacing an order for a subscription for one or more services offered bycloud infrastructure system 102, accessing one or more services offeredby cloud infrastructure system 102, or the like. In certain embodiments,the customer may access a cloud UI 132, 134, and 138 and place asubscription order via these UIs. The order information received bycloud infrastructure system 102 in response to the customer placing anorder may include information identifying the customer and one or moreservices offered by the cloud infrastructure system 102 to which thecustomer intends to subscribe. After an order has been placed by thecustomer, the order information is received via cloud UIs, 132, 134,and/or 138.

In this example, order management and monitoring module 112 sendsinformation received from a customer to an order database to have theorder placed by the customer stored. The order database can be one ofseveral databases operated by cloud infrastructure system 102 andoperated in conjunction with other system elements. Order management andmonitoring module 112 may forward information that includes all or partof the order information stored in the order database to an ordermanagement module. In some instances, the order management module may beconfigured to perform billing and accounting functions related to theorder, such as verifying the order, and upon verification, booking theorder.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 100 may includeidentity management module 114. Identity management module 114 may beconfigured to provide identity services, such as access management andauthorization services in cloud infrastructure system 102. In someembodiments, identity management module 114 may control informationabout customers who wish to utilize the services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 102. Such information can include information thatauthenticates the identities of such customers and information thatdescribes which actions those customers are authorized to performrelative to various system resources (e.g., files, directories,applications, communication ports, memory segments, etc.) Identitymanagement module 114 may also include the management of descriptiveinformation about each customer and about how and by whom thatdescriptive information can be accessed and modified.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 102 may also includeinfrastructure resources 116 for providing the resources used to providevarious services to customers of cloud infrastructure system 102. In oneembodiment, infrastructure resources 116 may include pre-integrated andoptimized combinations of hardware, such as servers, storage, andnetworking resources to execute the services provided by the PaaSplatform and the SaaS platform.

In some embodiments, resources in cloud infrastructure system 102 may beshared by multiple users and dynamically re-allocated per demand.Additionally, resources may be allocated to users in different timezones. For example, cloud infrastructure system 102 may enable a firstset of users in a first time zone to utilize resources of the cloudinfrastructure system for a specified number of hours and then enablethe re-allocation of the same resources to another set of users locatedin a different time zone, thereby maximizing the utilization ofresources.

In certain embodiments, a number of internal shared services 118 may beprovided that are shared by different components or modules of cloudinfrastructure system 102 and by the services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 102. These internal shared services 118 mayinclude, without limitation, a security and identity service, anintegration service, an enterprise repository service, an enterprisemanager service, a virus scanning and white list service, a highavailability, backup and recovery service, service for enabling cloudsupport, an email service, a notification service, a file transferservice, and the like.

In certain embodiments, a number of external shared services 120 may beprovided that are shared by different components or modules of cloudinfrastructure system 102 and by the services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 102. These external shared services 120 mayinclude, without limitation, a security and identity service, anintegration service, an enterprise repository service, an enterprisemanager service, a virus scanning and white list service, a highavailability, backup and recovery service, service for enabling cloudsupport, an email service, a notification service, a file transferservice, and the like.

In various embodiments, external shared services 120 may include one ormore components that provide access, data transformation, automation, orthe like to enterprise computer system(s) 126. Access to enterprisecomputer system(s) 126 may be shared by different components or modulesof cloud infrastructure system 102 and by the services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 102. In some embodiments, access to enterprisecomputer system(s) 126 may be shared by service instances provided bycloud infrastructure system 102 that are restricted to one or moresubscribers.

In further embodiments, external shared services 120 may includeexternal application programming interface (“API”) services 128 that areshared by different components or modules of cloud infrastructure system102 and by the services provided by cloud infrastructure system 102.These external API services 128 may include, without limitation, APIsprovided by other third party services or entities.

Various different mobile cloud services may be provided by MCS 122 incloud infrastructure system 102. MCS 122 facilitates communicationbetween a mobile computing device and enterprise computer systems (e.g.,enterprise computer systems 124 and 126) according to some embodimentsof the present invention. MCS 122 may include one or more memory storagedevices (“local storage”) used to store enterprise data andauthentication information. Enterprise data may be received fromenterprise computer systems 126 or from client computing devices 104,106, or 108 or may include enterprise data converted by cloudinfrastructure system 102, or combinations thereof. Authenticationinformation may be received from identity management system 116 and/orgenerated by cloud infrastructure system 102. In some embodiments,authentication information may include information indicating securityauthentication of a user with regard to a request for a service.

Enterprise computer systems, such as enterprise computer systems 126 maybe physically located beyond a firewall of cloud infrastructure system102 at a different geographic location (e.g., remote geographiclocation) than cloud infrastructure system 102. In some embodiments,enterprise computer systems 126 may include one or more differentcomputers or servers. In some embodiments, enterprise computer systems126 may be part of a single computer system.

In certain embodiments, enterprise computer systems 126 may communicatewith cloud infrastructure system 102 using one or more differentprotocols. Each of enterprise computer systems 126 may communicate withcloud infrastructure system 102 using a different communicationprotocols. Enterprise computer systems 126 may support the same ordifferent security protocols. In some embodiments, MCS 122 may includean agent system to handle communication with enterprise computer systems126.

A protocol may include a communication protocol, such as SPeeDY(“SPDY”). A protocol may include an application protocol such as anHTTP-based protocol. In some embodiments, enterprise computer systems126 may communicate with cloud infrastructure system 102 using acommunication protocol such as REST or Simple Object Access Protocol(“SOAP”). For example, REST protocol may support a formats includinguniform resource identifier (“URI”) or uniform resource locator (“URL”).Enterprise Data formatted for communication using REST protocol may beeasily converted to data formats such as JavaScript Object Notation(“JSON”), comma-separated values (“CSV”), and really simple syndication(“RSS”). Enterprise computer systems 126 and cloud infrastructure system102 may communicate using other protocols such as remote procedure calls(“RPC”) (e.g., extended markup language (“XML”) RPC).

In some embodiments, MCS 122 may include an adaptor interface configuredto support communication with one or more services provided by cloudinfrastructure service 102, some of which may support differentprotocols or techniques for communications. In some embodiments, MCS 122may include an adaptor interface configured to support communicationwith enterprise computer systems 126, some of which may supportdifferent protocols or techniques for communications. MCS 122 mayinclude one or more adaptors each of which may be configured tocommunicate according to a communication protocol, a type of enterprisecomputer system, a type of application, a type of service, orcombinations thereof. A communication protocol supported by an adaptormay be specific to a service or one or more of enterprise computersystems 126.

In certain embodiments, client computing devices 104, 106, and 108 mayeach implement an application that can provide specific UIs tocommunicate with MCS 122. A specific UI may be configured to communicateusing a specific communication protocol. In some embodiments, specificUIs may include callable interfaces, functions, routines, methods,and/or operations that may be invoked to communicate with MCS 122.Specific UIs may accept as input parameters for communicating with aservice provided by cloud infrastructure service 102 or with enterprisecomputer systems 126 for enterprise data and/or to request a service. Insome embodiments, communication through MCS 122 may be converted forcommunication using a custom communication protocol. In someembodiments, specific UIs may correspond to a custom client in anapplication.

MCS 122 may include one or more callable interfaces, e.g., an API.Callable interfaces associated with MCS 122 may enable an application ona mobile computing device to communicate requests to MCS 122. Callableinterfaces associated with MCS 122 may support a common or standardinterface, which may allow requests including their parameters to bereceived from apps according to a standardized protocol, architecturalstyle, and/or format (e.g., a REST protocol). Callable interfacesassociated with MCS 122 may be configurable by a user of any one ofcomputing devices 104, 106, or 108. Callable interfaces associated withMCS 122 may receive requests for services according to a communicationprotocol. Device application developers can connect to MCS 122 for theircustom applications. In some embodiments, a callable interfaceassociated with MCS 122 may be configured by the same person thatdevelops an app, such that the person can implement a custom applicationto communicate with MCS 122.

Callable interfaces associated with MCS 122 may further enableenterprise computer systems 126 to communicate with MCS 122 according toa standardized protocol or format. Similar to application developers,those who manage enterprise computer systems can implement code (e.g.,an agent system) that is configured to communicate with MCS 122 via oneor more callable interfaces. Callable interfaces associated with MCS 122may be implemented based on a type of a computing device, a type ofenterprise computer systems, an app, an agent system, a service, aprotocol, or other criterion. In some embodiments, callable interfacesassociated with MCS 122 may support requests for services includingauthentication, compression, encryption, pagination with cursors,client-based throttling, non-repudiation, logging, and metricscollection. In some embodiments, callable interfaces associated with MCS122 may be implemented for custom business-related services, such asauthentication, policy enforcement, caching of responses, throttling ofcalls to MCS 122, translation between asynchronous and synchronouspatterns, logging of calls to underlying services, or combinationsthereof. In some embodiments, callable interfaces associated with MCS122 may enable users to load custom code for implementation by cloudinfrastructure system 102. The custom code may implement one or morecallable interfaces associated with MCS 122 for cloud infrastructuresystem 102, which can enable users to access custom services or otherenterprise computer systems.

Protocol translators associated with MCS 122 may process a message todetermine a communication protocol for a message and/or to convert amessage to a communication protocol for a destination. Protocoltranslators associated with MCS 122 may convert a request received fromclient computing devices 104, 106, or 108. The request may be convertedfrom a format of a communication protocol supported by client computingdevices 104, 106, or 108 to a format of a communication protocolsupported by a service provided by cloud infrastructure service 102 orenterprise computer systems 126. Protocol translators associated withMCS 122 may convert a response received from a service provided by cloudinfrastructure service 102 or enterprise computer systems 126. Aresponse may be converted from a format of a communication protocolsupported by a service provided by cloud infrastructure service 102 orenterprise computer systems 126 to a format of a communication protocolsupported by client computing devices 104, 106, or 108.

Security services associated with MCS 122 may manage securityauthentication for requests received from any of client computingdevices 104, 106, or 108. Security services associated with MCS 122 mayprotect the integrity of customer processes and enterprise data. Toprevent system or data from being compromised, security authenticationmay occur when a request is received from client computing devices 104,106, or 108. Security authentication may be performed before a requestis dispatched for processing by cloud infrastructure system 102. Thesecurity authentication determined for a user may enable a userassociated with a mobile computing device to have authorization torequest services via MCS 122. The security authentication may reduceefforts for a user to authenticate for different requests and/orservices requested via MCS 122. Security services associated with MCS122 may be implemented as one or more functional blocks or modulesconfigured to perform various operations authenticating security of arequest.

Authentication services associated with MCS 122 may manage securityauthentication for requests received from client computing devices 104,106, or 108. Authentication services associated with MCS 122 maydetermine security authentication for a user associated with a computingdevice that sends a request to MCS 122. Security authentication may bedetermined based on a time period, which may be tied to operation of anapplication (e.g., launching an application), a request, a computingdevice, an enterprise computer system, other criterion related to arequest, or combinations thereof. Security authentication may beverified and granted for any one of the following, such as an individualrequest, one or more enterprise computer systems, a particular service,a type of service, a user, a computing device, other criterion fordetermining security authentication, or combinations thereof. In someembodiments, cloud infrastructure system 102 may store authenticationinformation of users received from enterprise computer systems orauthentication systems supporting enterprise computer systems. Cloudinfrastructure system 102 may determine authentication by performing alookup function to determine whether an identity of a user associatedwith a request has authority to make such a request. The storedauthentication information may include information such as the type ofrequests, functions, enterprise computer systems, enterprise data, orthe like that a user may be authorized to access. In some embodiments,infrastructure system 102 may initiate communication with a requestingcomputing device to determine authentication.

In some embodiments, security authentication may be determined based ona role associated with a user requesting a service. The role may beassociated with a user requesting access to MCS 122. In someembodiments, a user may request services as a subscriber or tenant ofMCS 122 who may be granted access to resources and/or services providedby MCS 122. Authentication may correspond to a user's subscription toMCS 122, such that a user may be authorized to request services via MCS122 as a subscriber. In some embodiments, the subscription may belimited to a particular set of resources provided by MCS 122. Securityauthentication may be based on the resources and/or services accessibleto the user of MCS 122. In some embodiments, a request may beprovisioned a template during execution called a “runtime environment.”The runtime environment may be associated with resources that areallocated for a request, a user, or a device.

In some embodiments, authentication services associated with MCS 122 mayrequest an identity management system to determine securityauthentication for the user. The identity management system may beimplemented by cloud infrastructure system 102 (e.g., as identitymanagement 114) or by another computer system that is external to cloudinfrastructure system 102. Identity management 116 may determinesecurity authentication of the user based on the user's role orsubscription for accessing MCS 122. The role or subscription may beassigned privileges and/or entitlements with respect to an enterprisecomputer system, a service provided by an enterprise computer system, afunction or feature of an enterprise computer system, other criterionfor controlling access to an enterprise computer system, or combinationsthereof.

Various different ADFs 124 may be provided in cloud infrastructuresystem 102. ADFs 124 provide the infrastructure code to implement agileSOA based applications. ADFs 124 further provide a visual anddeclarative approach to development through one or more developmenttools (e.g., “Oracle JDeveloper 11g” development tool). One or moreframeworks provided by ADFs 124 may implement an MVC design pattern.Such frameworks offer an integrated solution that covers all the layersof the MVC architecture with solutions to such areas asObject/Relational mapping, data persistence, reusable controller layer,rich Web UI framework, data binding to UI, security and customization.Extending beyond the core Web based MVC approach, such frameworks alsointegrate with the Oracle SOA and WebCenter Portal frameworkssimplifying the creation of complete composite applications.

In certain embodiments, ADFs 124 make it easy to develop agileapplications that expose data as services by coupling a serviceinterface to built-in business services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 102. This separation of business service implementation detailsis performed in ADFs 124 via metadata. Use of this metadata-drivenarchitecture enables application developers to focus on the businesslogic and user experience, rather than the details of how services areaccessed. In certain embodiments, ADFs 124 store implementation detailsof services in metadata in a model layer. This enables developers toexchange services without modifying the UI, making the applicationextremely agile. Additionally, the developer creating the UI does notneed to bother with business service access details. Instead, developerscan focus on developing the application interface and interaction logic.Creating the user experience can be as simple as dragging-and-droppingthe desired business services onto a visual page designer and indicatingwhat type of component should represent that data.

In various embodiments, developers interact with ADFs 124 to createmodules forming enterprise applications. The enterprise applications canbe executed within the context of cloud infrastructure system 102. Invarious embodiments, developers interact with ADFs 124 to create modulesforming mobile applications. The mobile applications can be executedwithin the context of cloud infrastructure system 102. Features of thepresent invention described below may be implemented using any desiredcombination of programming language and application developmentframework as will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant arts byreading the disclosure provided herein.

One or more frameworks provided by ADFs 124 may be embodied as OracleADF in one example. Accordingly, a framework in ADFs 124 can be based onan MVC design pattern. An MVC application is separated into: 1) a modellayer that handles interaction with data-sources and runs the businesslogic, 2) a view layer that handles the application UI, and 3) acontroller that manages the application flow and acts as the interfacebetween the Model and the View layers. Separating applications intothese three layers simplifies maintenance and reuse of components acrossapplications. The independence of each layer from the others results ina loosely coupled, SOA.

In various embodiments, ADFs 124 provide tools and resources allowingdevelopers to create an application in the form of multiple layers, eachlayer containing code modules/files implementing desired logic accordingto pre-defined specification. Thus, in one embodiment, ADFS 124 enablesthe application to be developed as four layers: a view layer containingcode modules/files that provide the UI of the application, a controllerlayer containing code modules that control the flow of the application,a model layer containing data/code modules that provide an abstractionlayer for the underlying data, and a business services layer containingcode modules that provide access to data from various sources andhandles business logic.

In certain embodiments, ADFs 124 let developers choose the technologythey prefer to use when implementing each of the layers. EnterpriseJavaBean (“EJB”), Web Services, JavaBeans, JPA/EclipseLink/TopLinkobjects, and many others can all be used as Business Services for ADFs124. View layers can include Web based interfaces implemented with JavaServer Faces (“JSF”), Desktop Swing applications and Microsoft Officefront ends, as well as interfaces for mobile devices.

In one aspect, the view layer represents the UI of the application beingdeveloped. The view layer can include desktop, mobile, and browser-basedviews, each of which provides all or a portion of the UI and isaccessible in a variety of manners corresponding to view type. Forexample, Web pages may be sent by the application in response toreceiving client requests containing corresponding URLs. The Web pagesmay then be displayed by a browser on a display unit (not shown)associated with a requesting client system, thereby enabling users ofthe requesting client system to interact with the enterpriseapplication. ADFs 124 support multi-channel access to business servicesallowing reuse of business services and access from a Web client, aclient-server swing desktop-based application, Microsoft Excelspreadsheets, mobile devices such as a smart-phone, or the like.

The code files/modules forming the view layer (such as Web pages) may beimplemented using one or more of hypertext markup language (“HTML”),Java server pages (“JSP”), and JSF. Alternatively, the UI may beimplemented using Java components such as Swing, and/or XML. As furthernoted, the UI may leverage a user's experience and familiarity withdesktop applications, such as Word and Excel by Microsoft.

As noted above, the relevant user-developed code/data modules areprovided in each of the layers. However, each layer typically containsother pre-defined code/data modules provided by ADFs 124. Some of thepre-defined modules may be used during development, for example, astemplates for developing the Web pages, for including desiredfunctionality in the developed code etc. Other pre-defined modules (suchas a URL rewriting module) may be deployed along with the developedapplication and may provide additional functionalities (mapping ofrequested URLs to internal names) to the user during execution of theenterprise application.

A controller layer contains code modules/files that control the flow ofthe application. Each controller object contains software instructionsand/or data implemented according to a desired manner of presentinginformation in the view layer. The desired manner may include thespecific Web pages to be displayed when links in another Web page areclicked/selected by the user, the page to be displayed when errors occurduring execution, indicating the specific data to be stored/retrieved,etc.

In one aspect, the controller layer manages the applications flow andhandles user input. For example, when a Search button is clicked on apage, the controller determines what action to perform (do a search) andwhere to navigate to (the results page). There are two controlleroptions for Web-based applications in JDeveloper: the standard JSFcontroller or the ADF Controller that extends the JSF controllerfunctionality. Whichever controller is used, application flow istypically designed by laying out pages and navigation rules on adiagram. An application's flow can be broken into smaller, reusable taskflows; include non-visual components such as method calls and decisionpoints in a flow; and create “page fragment” flows that run inside aregion of a single containing page.

The code modules/files forming the controller layer are oftenimplemented as Java servlets receiving the client requests and sendingdesired Web pages as corresponding responses. Controller objects mayalso be implemented, for example, as Apache Jakarta Struts controllersor according to the JSF standard.

A model layer contains data/code modules that connect various businessservices to the objects that use them in the other layers, such as tothe controller objects discussed above or directly to desktopapplications. Each abstract data object of the model layer provides acorresponding interface that can be used to access any type of businessservice executing in an underlying business service layer. The dataobjects may abstract the business service implementation details of aservice from a client and/or expose data control methods/attributes toview components, thus providing a separation of the view and datalayers.

In one aspect, the model layer consists of two components, data controlsand data bindings, which utilize metadata files to define the interface.Data controls abstract the business service implementation details fromclients. Data bindings expose data control methods and attributes to UIcomponents, providing a clean separation of the view and model. Due tothe metadata architecture of the model layer, developers get the samedevelopment experience when binding any type of Business Service layerimplementation to the View and Controller layers.

In certain embodiments, ADFs 124 emphasize the use of the declarativeprogramming paradigm throughout the development process to allow usersto focus on the logic of application creation without having to get intoimplementation details. At a high level, the development process for aFusion Web application usually involves creating an applicationworkspace. Using a wizard, libraries and configuration needed fortechnologies selected by a developer are automatically added and anapplication is structured into projects with packages and directories.

By modeling database objects, an online database or offline replica ofany database can be created, definitions edited, and schemas updated.Using a unified modeling language (“UML”) modeler, use cases can then becreated for the application. Application control and navigation can alsobe designed. Diagrammers can be used to visually determine the flow ofapplication control and navigation. Then, an underlying XML filedescribing the flow can be automatically created. A resource library canbe used to allow a developer to view and use imported libraries bysimply dragging and dropping them into the application. From databasetables, entity objects can be created using wizards or dialogs. Fromthose entity objects, view objects are created to be used by pages inthe application. Validation rules and other types of business logic canbe implemented.

In this example, a business services layer manages interaction with adata persistence layer. It provides such services as data persistence,object/relational mapping, transaction management, and business logicexecution. The business services layer can be implemented in any of thefollowing options: as simple Java classes, EJB, Web services, JPAobjects, and Oracle ADF Business Components. In addition, data can beconsumed directly from files (XML or CSV) as well as REST. Thus, eachbusiness service manages interaction with a corresponding datapersistence layer, and also provides such services as object/relationalmapping, transaction management, business logic execution, etc. Thebusiness services layer may be implemented using one or more of simpleJava classes, Enterprise Java Beans, Web services, etc.

Business components represent a business service implemented using, forexample, “Oracle ADF Business Components” from Oracle Corp., to provideinteraction with databases, Web services, legacy systems, applicationservers, and the like. In one embodiment, business components of thebusiness services layer contain a mixture of application modules,view/query objects, and entity objects, which cooperate to provide thebusiness service implementation. An application module can be atransactional component/code module that UI clients communicate with forworking with application/transaction data. The application module mayprovide an updatable data model and also procedures/functions (commonlyreferred to as service methods) related to user transactions.

An entity object may represent a corresponding row in a database tableand simplifies the manipulation (update, deletion, etc.) of the datastored in the corresponding row. An entity object often encapsulatesbusiness logic for the corresponding row to ensure that the desiredbusiness rules are consistently enforced. An entity object may also beassociated with other entity objects to reflect relationships existingbetween rows stored in the underlying database.

III. Privacy, Residency and Security

Privacy, Residency and Security (PRS) relates to addressing the issuesof obfuscating data that goes into the cloud. Two common methods ofobfuscation are encryption and tokenization. Using either of theseapproaches ensures that data remains undecipherable to prying eyes whilethe organization enjoys the benefits of cloud-based applications offeredby cloud infrastructure system 102.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of system 200 providing privacy, residency,and security with cloud-based applications in accordance with someembodiments of the present disclosure. In the illustrated embodiment inFIG. 2, system 200 includes one or more client computing devices 205,210, and 215 that may be used by users to interact with a cloudinfrastructure system 220 (e.g., the cloud infrastructure system 102described with respect to FIG. 1) that provides cloud services,including services for providing access to data that may or may not beobfuscated. It should be appreciated that system 200 may have othercomponents than those depicted. Further, the embodiment shown in FIG. 2is only one example of a system for providing privacy, residency, andsecurity with cloud-based applications that may incorporate someembodiments. In some other embodiments, system 200 may have more orfewer components than shown in the figure, may combine two or morecomponents, or may have a different configuration or arrangement ofcomponents.

In this example, system 200 includes enterprise infrastructure system225, PRS system 230, and cloud infrastructure system 220. Enterpriseinfrastructure system 225 can include one or more client devices,servers, networking devices, routers, proxies, gateways, and the like.As illustrated, enterprise infrastructure system 225 includes one ormore client computing devices 205, 210, and 215 in communication withthe PRS system 230 and the cloud infrastructure system 220. Asillustrated, PRS system 230 includes a PRS server 235 and a privatedatabase 240, and the cloud infrastructure system 220 includes acloud-based application 245 and a cloud database 250.

Client computing devices 205, 210, and 215 may be devices similar tothose described above for 104, 106, and 108 shown in FIG. 1. Clientcomputing devices 205, 210, and 215 may be configured to operate aclient application such as a web browser, a proprietary clientapplication (e.g., Oracle Forms), or some other application, which maybe used by a user of the client computing device to interact with cloudinfrastructure system 220 to use services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 220. Although exemplary system environment 200 isshown with three client computing devices, any number of clientcomputing devices may be supported. Other devices such as devices withsensors, etc. may interact with cloud infrastructure system 220.

Client computing devices 205, 210, and 215 may be portable handhelddevices (e.g., an iPhone®, cellular telephone, an iPad®, computingtablet, a personal digital assistant (“PDA”)) or wearable devices (e.g.,a Google Glass® head mounted display), running software such asMicrosoft Windows Mobile®, and/or a variety of mobile OSs such as iOS,Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry 10, Palm OS, and the like, and beingInternet, e-mail, short message service (“SMS”), Blackberry®, or othercommunication protocol enabled. Client computing devices 205, 210, and215 can be general-purpose personal computers including, by way ofexample, personal computers and/or laptop computers running variousversions of Microsoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linux OSs.Client computing devices 205, 210, 215 can be workstation computersrunning any of a variety of commercially available UNIX® or UNIX-likeOSs, including without limitation the variety of GNU/Linux OSs, such asfor example, Google Chrome OS. Alternatively, or in addition, clientcomputing devices 205, 210, and 215 may be any other electronic device,such as a thin-client computer, an Internet-enabled gaming system (e.g.,a Microsoft Xbox gaming console with or without a Kinect® gesture inputdevice), and/or a personal messaging device, capable of communicatingover one or more networks.

PRS server 235 may comprise one or more computers and/or servers. Thesecomputer systems or servers may be composed of one or more generalpurpose computers, specialized server computers (including, by way ofexample, personal computer (“PC”) servers, UNIX® servers, mid-rangeservers, mainframe computers, rack-mounted servers, etc.), server farms,server clusters, or any other appropriate arrangement and/orcombination. One or more computer systems or servers associated with PRSserver 235 may run an OS including any of those discussed above, as wellas any commercially available server OS. One or more computer systems orservers associated with PRS server 235 may also run any of a variety ofadditional server applications and/or mid-tier applications, includinghypertext transport protocol (“HTTP”) servers, file transfer protocol(“FTP”) servers, common gateway interface (“CGI”) servers, JAVA®servers, database servers, email servers, reverse proxies, and the like.

In certain embodiments, services provided by PRS server 235 may includea host of services, such as data privacy, residency, and security. PRSserver 235 can be graphically installed and configured to support cloudapplication-specific requirements using application-specific adaptors.In some examples, PRS server 235 may provide data privacy by protectingdata leaving enterprise infrastructure system 225, for example by usingencryption or tokenization. PRS server 235 can seamlessly intercept datatransmissions between client computing devices 205, 210, and 215 andcloud-based application 245, replacing sensitive data with replacementdata, e.g., a token or encrypted data. As defined by the organization,sensitive data that cannot, or should not, leave enterpriseinfrastructure system 225 remains in private database 240, e.g., behindthe firewall of PRS system 230, while users of the client computingdevices 205, 210, and 215 experience virtually all of the functionalityof the cloud-based application 245, regardless of where the sensitivedata resides. PRS server 235 can perform “encryption on the fly” whereinstead of storing and managing, the sensitive data locally, thesensitive data is encrypted or tokenized before it is sent tocloud-based application 245, and decrypted or substitute with thesensitive data on the return. The sensitive data received by thecloud-based application 245 and optionally stored in cloud database 250itself, if accessed directly without PRS system 230, would appear onlyas an encrypted list of values or tokens.

PRS server 235 may provide data residency by preventing data that meetscertain conditions, e.g., sensitive data, from leaving enterpriseinfrastructure system 225. PRS server 235 can identify specific piecesof data from the data transmission that meet the conditions, save thespecific pieces of data to the private database 240, generatereplacement values (e.g., encryption values or tokens) for the realvalues of the identified specific pieces of data, and send the generatedreplacement values to the cloud-based application 245. The real valuesfor the identified specific pieces of data remain resident locally inthe private database 240, which may be governed by local statutes andoperate under corporate policy. Thus, cloud-based application 245operates with the replacement data, which can be stored in clouddatabase 250. PRS server 235 can categorize cloud application data, suchas using categories as tokens, sortable tokens, encrypted values, andclear text. In some embodiments, the data can be protected on afield-by-field basis using an obfuscation strategy as discussed indetail herein.

PRS server 235 may provide data privacy, residency, and security bymanaging access to data stored in private database 240. PRS server 235can ensure that only authorized access to cloud-based application 245occurs from the organization. PRS server 235 can create a secureauthentication link between enterprise infrastructure system 225 andcloud infrastructure system 220. In one embodiment, PRS server 235 isconfigured to utilize algorithmic schemes of encryption to transformplain text information detected in a network transmission into anon-readable cipher text. PRS server 235 may provide key managementallowing PRS server 235 to encrypt and decrypt data within networktransmissions. The key management may include the ability to generate,distribute, store, rotate, and revoke/destroy cryptographic keys asneeded to protect the sensitive data with which they are associated. Inother embodiments, PRS server 235 is configured to utilize tokenizationfor the protection of the sensitive data. PRS server 235 can use datasubstitution with a token (or alias) as a replacement for the realvalues. In the process of tokenization, PRS server 235 interceptssensitive data and sends the data to private database 235 where it isstored securely. At the same time, PRS server 235 can generate a randomunique set of characters (the token) and return the token for use inplace of the real data. PRS server 235 (or private database 240) canmaintain a reference database that allows the token value to beexchanged for the real data when it is needed again.

Accordingly, PRS server 235 can allow the encrypted value or the tokenvalue, which has no meaning whatsoever to prying eyes, to be used invarious cloud-based applications as a reliable substitute for the realdata, such as with cloud-based application 245. Cloud-based application245 can be representative of one or more enterprise applicationsdeveloped using ADFs 124 as discussed with respect to FIG. 1. Theenterprise applications can be executed within the context of cloudinfrastructure system 220. Cloud-based application 245 can include a MVCapplication separated into: 1) a model layer that handles interactionwith cloud database 250 and runs the business logic, 2) a view layerthat handles the application UI delivered to one or more of the clientdevices 205, 210, and 215, and 3) a controller that manages theapplication flow and acts as the interface between the Model and theView layers.

In one aspect, the view layer represents the UI of the application beingdeveloped. The view layer can include desktop, mobile, and browser-basedviews, each of which provides all or a portion of the UI and isaccessible in a variety of manners corresponding to view type. Forexample, Web pages may be sent by cloud-based application 245 inresponse to receiving client requests containing corresponding URLs fromone or more of the client devices 205, 210, and 215. The Web pages maythen be displayed by a browser on a display unit (not shown) associatedwith one or more of the client devices 205, 210, and 215, therebyenabling users of the one or more client devices 205, 210, and 215 tointeract with cloud-based application 245. The code files/modulesforming the view layer (such as Web pages) may be implemented using oneor more of hypertext markup language (“HTML”), Java server pages(“JSP”), and JSF. Alternatively, the UI may be implemented using Javacomponents such as Swing, and/or XML. As further noted, the UI mayleverage a user's experience and familiarity with desktop applications,such as Word and Excel by Microsoft.

As noted above, the PRS server 235 may monitor (e.g., intercept) networktraffic and enforce privacy, residency, and security policies. Withregard to communications between the one or more client devices 205,210, and 215 and cloud-based application 245, the PRS server 235 canintercept transmissions originating from the one or more client devices205, 210, and 215 to enforce the privacy, residency, and securitypolicies. In the illustrated example, the one or more client devices205, 210, and 215 can send a network transmission that includes thefollowing pieces of information: ADDRESS=“123 MAIN” and CONTACT=JOHN” tothe cloud infrastructure system 220. The PRS server 235 can interceptthe network transmission and inspect its contents to determine whetherany of the pieces of information are subject to the privacy, residency,and security policies. For example, the PRS server 235 can determinethat the “CONTACT” piece of information is sensitive data subject to theprivacy, residency, and security policies, and should not be transmittedto the cloud infrastructure system 220. The PRS server 235 can modifythe network transmission to encrypt or tokenize the information asfollows, with the “CONTACT” piece of information being designated assensitive or private data: ADDRESS=“123 MAIN” [Public Data] andCONTACT=“JIDL45” [Private Data]. PRS server 235 can store thecryptographic key and/or the original data together with a token map inprivate database 240. PRS server 235 can then forward the modifiednetwork transmission with the replacement values (e.g., encryptionvalues or tokens) to cloud-based application 245.

With regard to communications between the one or more client devices205, 210, and 215 and cloud-based application 245, the PRS server 235can intercept transmissions destined for the one or more client devices205, 210, and 215 in a reverse the process to enforce the privacy,residency, and security policies. In the illustrated example, the PRSserver 235 can determine that the “CONTACT” piece of information hasbeen encrypted or tokenized, and the PRS server 220 can modify thenetwork transmission to decrypt or detokenize the information using thecryptographic key and/or the original data together with a token mapretrieved from private database 240. The PRS server 235 can then forwardthe modified network transmission to the one or more client devices 205,210, and 215.

FIG. 3A is an illustration of a UI 300 associated with the cloud-basedapplication 245 when viewed using the one or more client devices 205,210, and 215 from within the enterprise infrastructure system 225. Asillustrated, a “Contacts” page 305 is displayed with one or more contactcards 310. The name of each contact 315 is visible together with otherUI elements, such as a photo and other data fields including theaddress. An administrator of the PRS server 235 can designate the namefield of UI page 300 as protected data as described in detail herein.FIG. 3B is an illustration of a UI 300′ associated with cloud-basedapplication 245 when viewed from within cloud infrastructure system 220or using a computing device to access the cloud-based application 245from a location outside of the enterprise infrastructure system 225. Asillustrated, the “Contacts” page 305′ is displayed with the same contactcards 310′; however, the name of each contact 315′ is encrypted orreplaced with tokenized data while the other UI elements such as a photoand other data fields including the address remain with the real values.

IV. Self Describing Configuration

In some embodiments, a model layer associated with cloud-basedapplication 245 contains data/code modules that connect various businessservices to the objects that use them in the other layers, such as tothe controller objects discussed above or directly to desktopapplications. Each abstract data object of the model layer provides acorresponding interface that can be used to access any type of businessservice executing in an underlying business service layer. The dataobjects may abstract the business service implementation details of aservice from a client and/or expose data control methods/attributes toview components, thus providing a separation of the view and datalayers.

In one aspect, the model layer consists of two components, data controlsand data bindings, which utilize metadata files to define the UI. Datacontrols abstract the business service implementation details fromclients. Data bindings expose data control methods and attributes to UIcomponents, providing a clean separation of the view and model. Bymodeling database objects, cloud database 250 can be created for usewith cloud-application 245. From database tables, entity objects can becreated using wizards or dialogs. From those entity objects, viewobjects are created to be used by pages in the application. Validationrules and other types of business logic can be implemented.

An entity object may represent a corresponding row in a database tableand simplifies the manipulation (update, deletion, etc.) of the datastored in the corresponding row. An entity object often encapsulatesbusiness logic for the corresponding row to ensure that the desiredbusiness rules are consistently enforced. An entity object may also beassociated with other entity objects to reflect relationships existingbetween rows stored in the underlying database.

Thus, an entity object can be an ADF Business Component that representsa row in cloud database 250 and simplifies modifying its associatedattributes. The entity object can be defined by specifying the databasetable in cloud database 250 whose rows it will represent. Associationscan then be created to reflect relationships between entity objects. Atruntime, entity rows are managed by a related entity definition objectand each entity row is identified by a related row key. Entity rows areretrieved and modified in the context of an application moduleassociated with cloud-based application 245 that provides the databasetransaction to cloud database 250.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating attributes shared betweenentities in one embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 4shows entity objects, e.g., account object 405, contact object 410,contact object 415, and employee object 420. FIG. 4 further showsdatabase tables, e.g., address table 425, phone/email table 430, andpersons table 435 that each includes various attributes 440, 445, and450 shared between entities. As illustrated, address attributes 440 ofaccount object 405 and contact object 410 can be stored in the samedatabase table, e.g., address table 425. Each row can be identified by arelated row key to specify whether the row holds the values for theaddress attributes 440 of account object 405 and/or contact object 410.Similarly, phone/email attributes 445 of account object 405 and contactobject 410 can be stored in the same database table, e.g., phone/emailtable 430. As further illustrated, contact object 415 and employeeobject 420 can be a subtype of a person object having attributes 450stored in persons table 435. Each row can be identified by a row key tospecify the type of persons object that the row holds, e.g., whether acontact person or a employee person.

As the general approach of a PRS server is to sniff or monitor wiretraffic and perform data encryption or tokenization on protected fields,it can be difficult to integrate this functionality with cloud-basedapplications utilizing components that share various entity objects asillustrated in FIG. 4. Conventionally a user might have to configureeach UI page of each cloud-based application to mark the sensitivefields the user desires to have protected. For example, a user may needto configure the UI page for contact object 415 and the UI page foremployee object 420 even though they share the same underlying databasetables or attributes. This becomes very challenging with large andcomplicated applications. The user might have to go through all possibleUI pages and configure each UI page one by one, even if regularexpressions are used to reduce the amount of work performed byadministrators. Additionally, as cloud-based applications may havecomponents that are shared and reused, the same identifier of fields maybe used on multiple UIs even though they do not necessarily reflect theactual “meaning” of the field. Using regular expressions is not onlyextremely painful, but also leads to possible sensitive data leak orunnecessary performance overhead on protecting non-sensitive data.

To overcome these problems, in some embodiments, the cloudinfrastructure system 220 can provide one or more services forself-describing the configuration of entity objects, UI pages, etc. ofcloud-based application 245 with respect to the PRS server 235. Cloudinfrastructure system 220 can provide an API that allows anadministrator of PRS server 235 (e.g., at the request of theorganization associated with enterprise infrastructure system 225) toidentify sensitive data at the data or component level of cloud-basedapplication 245. For example, the administrator can mark the socialsecurity number attribute 450 of entity objects at the data level suchthat any and all contact and employee objects 415, 420 that include thesocial security number attribute 450 have their data protected no matterwhere the sensitive data is used outside of the enterpriseinfrastructure system 225. In another example, the administrator canmark the name attribute 450 of only certain types of entity objects(e.g., the employee object 420) at the component level such that onlythose entity objects used by the given component that include the nameattribute 450 are protect when used by the given component outside ofthe enterprise infrastructure system 225. Cloud infrastructure system220 can then dynamically generate a map between UI elements recognizedby PRS server 235 and the marked fields. This way, cloud infrastructuresystem 220 can have a shared component protected no matter where it isused and what value is associated with the identifier. This reduces theneed to have multiple entries maintained by the PRS server 235.

Once sensitive data objects are identified using the PRS server 235, inone embodiment, the administrator can (1) add hints to the component'sunderlying data layer and (2) add a protectionKey attribute to thecomponent. When cloud-based application 245 generates a UI page using aprotected entity object, any data involving those protected componentsis sent in the payload of the network transmission together with a mapbetween the identifier and the field recognizable by the PRS server 235to perform necessary data encryption/tokenization. Thus, whenconfiguring components, a new attribute named protectionKey can be addedto the EditableValue component that controls whether the value of thecomponent should be protected or not. The value of the attribute can bethe name of the component that the PRS server 235 recognizes. Logic canbe added at the data binding layer of cloud-based application 245 toextract protection hints that include the value recognized by the PRSserver 235. If protectionKey is not present at the component level,cloud-based application 245 can retrieve the protectionKey attributefrom the data-binding layer. For requests sent to the cloud-basedapplication 245, if there is protected data involved, a build id toprotectionKey map can be put in the payload of the network transmission.Thus, instead of directly mapping component client identifiers toobject/fields recognizable by the PRS server 235, the map can begenerated on the fly based on a static configuration.

FIG. 5 illustrates a message sequence chart providing forself-describing configurations of the PRS server 235 in someembodiments. In block 502, the cloud infrastructure system 220 providesan API to a data model used by a cloud-based application 245 from whichthe PRS server 235 can access configurations. Providing the API mayinclude providing a server-side endpoint that an application, or adesigner, can hit with a request (typically an HTTP request, SOAPrequest, XML message, or the like). The server-side endpoint may beimplemented using an HTTP endpoint that has a well-defined URL scheme(e.g., www.enterpirse.com/contacts). In block 504, the PRS server 235requests configuration data of the data model from the cloudinfrastructure system 220 using the provided API. The configuration datamay include a set of protectable attributes/components of an entitymodeled using the data model (e.g., information regardingattributes/components that can be configured to be subject to privacy,residency, and security policies). Request 506 can include an HTTPrequest, SOAP request, XML message, or the like. In block 508, cloudinfrastructure system 220 provides the configuration data including aset of protectable attributes/components of the entity modeled using thedata model. In some embodiments, the configuration data further includesa type of protection (e.g., tokenizable or encryptable) that may beapplied to each attribute within the set of protectable attributes.

In one embodiment, cloud infrastructure system 220 maintains a list ofprotectable attributes/components used by cloud-based application 245.The cloud infrastructure system 220 may additionally send hints with thelist of protectable attributes/components such as type information forprotected fields to the PRS server 220. The hints may provideinformation concerning parameters of the protectable data. Cloudinfrastructure system 220 returns response 510 having the followingformat:

<objects> <object name=“emp” type=“object”> <field name=“fname”protectable=“protectable” tokenizable=“tokenizable″ type=“short_text”maxLength=“255”/> <description>Employee's first name</description></field> <field name=“lname” protectable=“protectable”tokenizable=“tokenizable″ type=“short_text” maxLength=“255”/><description>Employee's last name</description> </field> <fieldname=“email” protectable=“protectable” encryptable=“encryptable″type=“short_text” maxLength=“255”/> <description>Employee's emailaddress</description> </field> </object> </objects>

In block 512, the PRS server 235 generates a user interface using theinformation on the protectable attributes/components received from cloudinfrastructure system 220. The user interface allows for anadministrator of the PRS server 235 to configure one or more protectableattributes/components of the entity modeled as a protectedattribute/component. In block, 514, an administrator of the PRS server235 (e.g., at the request of the organization associated with enterpriseinfrastructure system 225) configures one or more protectableattributes/components of the entity modeled, e.g. field “fname” inobject “emp”, in the user interface to be marked as a protectedattribute/component. In some embodiments, the marking of theattribute/component as protected may further include an indication onthe type of protection to be applied to the attribute/component (e.g.,tokenization or encryption). In block 516, the PRS server 235 informscloud infrastructure system 220 of the protected attribute/component bysending the protected attribute/component information generated with theuser interface to the cloud infrastructure system 220. In oneembodiment, the PRS server 220 sends message 518 having the followingformat:

<objects> <object name=“emp” type=“object”> <field name=“fname”protect=“protect” tokenize=“tokenize″/> <field name=“lname”protect=“protect” tokenize=“tokenize″/> </object> </objects>

In block 520, the cloud infrastructure system 220 marks designatedcomponents or entity object attributes as protected. In block 522, thecloud infrastructure system 220 may send confirmation information forprotected fields to the PRS server 220. Cloud infrastructure system 210may return response 524 having the following format:

<objects> <object name=“emp” type=“object”> <field name=“fname”protect=“protect” tokenize=“tokenize″ type=“short_text”maxLength=“255”/> <field name=“lname” protect=“protect”tokenize=“tokenize″ type=“short_text” maxLength=“255”/> </object></objects>

FIG. 6 illustrates a message sequence chart for utilizingself-describing configurations in one embodiment according to thepresent invention. In block 602, one or more of the client devices 205,210, and 215 request a UI page or client component from the cloudinfrastructure system 220. Request 604 can include an HTTP request, SOAPrequest, XML, message, or the like. In block 608, the cloudinfrastructure system 220 determines an identifier for each protectedattribute. In one embodiment, the UI or component runtime associatedwith cloud-based application 245 (e.g., Oracle ADF Faces rendering) asksthe data model level for tokenization identifier of each protectedfield. In block 610, cloud infrastructure system 220 generates the UI orclient component and marks the protected fields. Cloud infrastructuresystem 210 may return the generated UI or client component with markedprotected fields in response 612. The marked protected fields generatedin block 610 are included in the payload of the response 612. Forexample, marking the protected fields may have the following format:<label class=“af_inputText_label-text”for=“it3::content”>Ename</label></td><td valign=“top” nowrapclass=“xve”><input id=“it3::content” name=“it3” style=“width:auto”class=“x25” size=“10” maxlength=“10” type=“text” value=“testname”protetionKey=“EMP_OBJ/Ename_FLD”></td>

and the generated UI or client component may have the following format:AdfPage.PAGE.addComponents(newAdfRichInputText(‘it3’,{‘columns’:10,‘maximumLength’:10,‘protectionKey’:‘EMP_OBJ/Ename_FLD’));

and a subsequent payload of the response 612 may contain map informationhaving the following format:

oracle.adf.view.rich.TOKENIZED={‘it3’:{‘EMP_OBJ/Ename_FLD’}’}

In block 614, the PRS server 235 intercepts response 612 and populatesthe UI or client component with any protected data from private database240 using the map included in the payload of the response 612. Forexample, the PRS sever 235 uses the map to replace random tokenizedvalues used for <field name=“fname” protect=“protect”tokenize=“tokenize”/> with the sensitive data values stored in theprivate database 240 for the same protected field: <field name=“fname”protect=“protect” tokenize=“tokenize”/>. The PRS server 235 thenforwards the modified response 616 to the one or more client devices205, 210, and 215. In block 618, the one or more client devices 205,210, and 215 display the generated UI or client component that includesany protected data from the private database 240 in the protectedfields.

In block 620, the one or more client devices 20, 210, and 215 may postdata to the cloud infrastructure system 220. The posted data can includechanges or updates to sensitive data of the protected fields within theUI or client component. In one embodiment, a client runtime (e.g., ADFFaces client) uses the tokenization information of the UI or clientcomponent to spoon feed mappings to the PRS server 235 using awell-known field (e.g., ProtectionKey). For example, the PRS server 235may use the well-known field to look up its configuration and findcorresponding actions (e.g., encryption or tokenizing). In block 622,the one or more client devices 205, 210, and 215 insert the mappingsinto a request 624 (e.g., generate ID→protectionKey Map such asoracle.adf.view.rich.TOKENIZED={‘r1:0:foo:it1’:{‘object’:‘emp’,‘field’:‘fname’}}). The one or more client devices 205, 210, and 215 maygenerate the request 624 as follows to include the mapping from block622:

r1:0:foo:it1=SecretFirstName

r1:0:foo:it5=PublicLastName

r2:1:bar:it1=publicemail@oracle.com

javax.faces.ViewState=!-12t5t4tf7q

org.apache.myfaces.trinidad.faces.FORM=f1

Adf-Page-Id=0

event=b5

event.b5=<m xmlns=“http://oracle.com/richClient/comm”><k

v=“type”><s>action</s></k></m>

oracle.adf.view.rich.PROCESS=f1,b5

oracle.adf.view.rich.TOKENIZED={‘r1:0:foo:it1’:{‘object’:‘emp’,‘field’:‘fname’}}

In block 626, the PRS server 235 intercepts the request 624, andreplaces any protected data with encrypted or tokenized values using themap (e.g., ID→protectionKey Map) and stores the protected data inprivate database 225. The PRS 235 then forwards the modified request 628to the cloud infrastructure system 220.

Thus, the administrator of the PRS server 235 can identify sensitivedata at the data model/component level and mark them in aself-describing way. Any generated UI elements associated withcloud-based application can be dynamically mapped to object/field tokensrecognized by the PRS server 235. This way, a shared component willalways be protected no matter where it is used and what id values ithas. Moreover, there is no need to add multiple entries to the PRSserver 235.

V. Support Sharing the Same Table for Protected and Non-Protected DataColumns

The cloud database 250 can contain encrypted or tokenized versions ofsensitive data. As suggested above, entity objects can share the samestructure as well as share the same database table. Some entity objectscan be protected while other entity objects are not protected.Traditionally, different database tables are required to serve differentprotection configurations consequently duplicating database tables.

To overcome these problems, in some embodiments, when the administratorof the PRS server 235 configures a protection rule of a component or adata object at the data object layer, a discriminate flag can be definedto identify to which component or data object a particular row belongs.Therefore, all components or data objects sharing the same structure,while having different protection rules, can still share the samedatabase table. This simplifies administration work of maintainingmultiple similar database tables, but also allows reuse of common logicoperating on the structurally similar components or data objects,without raising any security concerns.

FIG. 7 is an illustration depicting various layers used with respect tocloud-based application 245 in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. Layer 710 is representative of data tables used bycloud-based application 245 that are stored in cloud database 250. Theillustrated database table includes at least one column designated asthe discriminate flag for the components or data objects, e.g., anentity discriminator attribute “TYPE.” The illustrated database tablecan be configured to support a superset of attributes shared amongmultiple components or data objects used by cloud-based application 245.Using the discriminate flag, the components or data objects, e.g., theemployee object and contact object, to which a particular row belongs,can be identified. As should be understood, multiple components or dataobjects can share the same database table while having differentprotection rules, e.g., tokenization, encryption, or non-protected.

Security configurations (i.e., protection rules of a component or a dataobject) can be placed at a layer above the database tables, e.g., datamodels layer 720. An attribute of each data model, e.g., TYPE, can beexplicitly defined or implied. Because the discriminate flag is builtinto the data object only rows that belong to the data object should bepicked up when the data object is used in the cloud-based application245, e.g., such as being bound to various UI components. For example, in“Emp” object, “A” attribute is protected so it has two hints in datamodel layer: protectionState and protecionKey. These do not exist for“A” attribute in “Contact” object. Further, in “Contact” object, “B”attribute is protected so it has two hints in data model layer:protectionState and protecionKey. These do not exist for “B” attributein “Emp” object. Data protection, therefore, is configured at the dataobject level so only the rows that belong to the data object will besubject to encryption/tokenization.

A data object can be bound to one or more UI components in UI layer 730.Typically, the data object is bound to a UI component for rendering oneor more attributes of the data object. For example, a data object fromdata models layer 720 may be exposed to the UI layer 730 thru standardexpression language such as <af:inputText id=“FIELD1” value=“#{EMPbinding.A.inputValue}”/>. In document object model layer 740, therendered UI component can include identifiers indicating that certaindocument object models (DOM) elements are protected fields. As discussedabove, the identifiers may include token identifiers generated by thePRS server 235.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of method 800 for supporting the sharing of thesame table for protected and non-protected data columns in oneembodiment according to the present invention. Implementations of orprocessing in method 800 depicted in FIG. 8 may be performed by software(e.g., instructions or code modules) when executed by a centralprocessing unit (CPU or processor) of a logic machine, such as acomputer system or information processing device, by hardware componentsof an electronic device or application-specific integrated circuits, orby combinations of software and hardware elements. Method 800 depictedin FIG. 8 begins in step 810.

In step 810, a database table definition supporting a plurality of dataobjects is received. The database table can be defined to support aplurality of data objects. For example, a person table can includecolumns corresponding to a superset of attributes shared among theplurality of data objects. In step 820, at least one column isdesignated as the discriminate flag for the data objects. In someembodiments, a predetermined column of the database table can be used ora new column can be created for the discriminate flag.

In step 830, at least one attribute of a data object supported by thedatabase tables is designated as a protected field. As discussed abovewith respect to providing a self-describing configuration, theadministrator of the PRS server 235 can request a list of data objectsused by the cloud-based application 245. The administrator can selectwhich data objects (and/or their individual attributes) are subject tosecurity policies and send that information to cloud-based application245. Cloud based application 245 can then configure any database tables,data models, and components that are required to be protected.

In step 840, data is stored in the database table comingling protectedand non-protected data. Thus, when the administrator of the PRS server235 configures a protection rule of a component or a data object at thedata object layer, a discriminate flag can be defined to identify towhich component or data object a particular row belongs. Therefore, allcomponents or data objects sharing the same structure, while havingdifferent protection rules, can still share the same database table.This simplifies administration work of maintaining multiple similardatabase tables, but also allows reuse of common logic operating on thestructurally similar components or data objects, without raising anysecurity concerns.

VI. Automatic Operation Detection on Protected Field

As different data objects can have different protected fields, certainoperations performed by cloud-based application 245 can become invalidif the operation is performed against protected fields. In someembodiments, the cloud-based application 245 can automatically determineoperations that might be unsupported to avoid user confusion. Forexample, the cloud-based application 245 can exam all possible operatorson protected data and make intelligent decisions on enabling/disablingthem. This can greatly reduce the amount of work required to avoidgenerating erroneous results on certain operations performed againstprotected data. Self-describing configurations come are useful this casebecause when changes are made to the protection state of a certainfield, the cloud-based application 245 becomes aware of the change andany related operators can be automatically enabled/disabled. Someexamples of operations that can be enabled/disabled include server sidevalidation on protected data, auto-suggest behavior on protected data,allow exact match on searching against protected data, sorting againstprotected data, and the like.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of method 900 for automatic operation detectionfor protected fields in one embodiment according to the presentinvention. Implementations of or processing in method 900 depicted inFIG. 9 may be performed by software (e.g., instructions or code modules)when executed by a central processing unit (CPU or processor) of a logicmachine, such as a computer system or information processing device, byhardware components of an electronic device or application-specificintegrated circuits, or by combinations of software and hardwareelements. Method 900 depicted in FIG. 9 begins in step 910.

In step 910, a data model layer configuration is generated in the datamodel layer and received at the PRS server 235. For example, the PRSserver 235 can utilize an API of the cloud infrastructure system 220 toobtain data model attributes that are subject to security policies. Thedata model layer configuration may have the following format:

<EMP_OBJAttribute Name=“Ename” AttrName=“FName”> <Properties><CustomProperties> <Property Name=“protectionState” Value=“TOKENIZED”/><Property Name=“protectionKey” Value=“EMP_OBJ/Fname_FLD”/></CustomProperties> </Properties> </EMP_OBJAttribute>

In step 920, one or more protected fields are determined. As discussedabove with respect to providing a self-describing configuration, theadministrator of PRS server 235 can request a list of data objects usedby cloud-based application 245. The administrator can select which dataobjects (and/or their individual attributes) are subject to securitypolicies and send that information to cloud-based application 245. Cloudbased application 245 can then determine which fields are protected.

In step 930, operations than can be performed using protected fields aredetermined. This may include determining whether a protected field issearchable, used in an autocomplete, or the like. In step 940, thecloud-based application 245 is configured based on the determinedoperations that can be performed on protected fields. In one embodiment,the cloud-based application 245 can be configured when processingvalidators on protected data to only process a required check and skipany other validators. Cloud-based application 245 can be configured toadd logic to control auto-suggest behavior on protected data.Cloud-based application 245 can be configured when rendering a querypage to only allow exact match search operators. Cloud-based application245 can be configured when rendering a table to disable sorting oncolumns from protected data objects.

VII. Federated Search

One operation that can be performed by cloud-based application 245 thatmay become invalid if it is operated against protected fields is search.When a certain field is protected, search becomes a challenge.Traditionally, either search functionality is compromised to onlysupport exact match, or the PRS server 235 has to have a complete copyof every single searchable row with data replications setup between thecloud database 250 and private database 240. The PRS server 235 thenneeds to perform both searching on the sensitive data and renderinglogic to render the final result.

In some embodiments, the one or more client devices 205, 210, and 215can federate or centralize search results generated from searching theprivate database 240 and the cloud database 250. Rendering of a pageassociate with the cloud-based application 245 can be very complicated.For example, it can be a huge task for users to integrate thecloud-based application 245 with the PRS server 235 if the PRS server235 has to render the cloud-based application 245. By using a clientside federated search, the amount of integration work may be reduced,and the cloud-based application 245 can render the final result pagecompletely so all pages will have the same look and feel, and beconsistent. Thus, a federated search makes a search on protected andnon-protected fields transparent to an end user. Additionally, there isno searchability compromise on the sensitive data.

In various embodiments, the one or more client devices 205, 210, and 215split the original search into two searches. The one or more clientdevices 205, 210, and 215 split the original search based on a markedprotected field map as in block 610 of FIG. 6, since each of the one ormore client devices 205, 210, and 215 knows which fields are protectedand which ones are not protected. A first search is performed againstprotected fields using the private database 240 (e.g., the searchrequest payload has the information for PRS server 235 to perform aclient side search only for the protected fields), and a second searchis performed against all other fields including non-protected fieldusing the cloud database 250 (e.g., the PRS server 235 may then modifythe payload information so that the cloud-based application 245 knowsthe new search terms with protection tokens). The first search againstthe protected fields is performed using the PRS server 235 and theresult sets will be passed to the cloud-based application 245 (inaddition to the original search). The cloud-based application 245 canassemble the final result set from the first and second searches, andrender federated search result pages.

For example, “Emp” object “firstName” attribute may be protected withprotectKey EMP_OBJ/Ename_FLD, when a user does search “FirstNamestartwith ‘B’”, the original search request contains all the necessaryinformation. The PRS server 235 intercepts the request, searchesFirstName in the private database 240, updates the payload of therequest with the tokenized values of all matched FirstNames, and passeson the request to cloud-based application 245. The cloud-basedapplication 245 will then search the cloud database 250 with thetokenized values from the PRS server 235 and generates the final resultdataset, which is used in final page rendering. The rendered page willbe sent back to the one or more client devices 205, 210, and 215. ThePRS server 235 intercepts the response and converts the tokenized valuesto real text before sending to the one or more client devices 205, 210,and 215. The searched results of protected fields from the PRS server235 and the non-protected fields search results directly done in thecloud-based application 245 are combined in a final dataset.

In various embodiments, when a user initiates a search, if any of thesearch criteria is on protected fields, the PRS server 235 can apply thesearch against the private database 240. The PRS server 235 can generatea result sets as a set of qualified rows identified by row keys. The setof row keys are then sent to a search request for the cloud-basedapplication 245. When cloud-based application 245 handles the searchrequest, the qualified set of row keys will be used to filter out thefinal search result. For example, the row keys are used to identify thetokenized or encrypted data that match the search criteria and thetokenized or encrypted data are added to the search result obtained fromrunning the search criteria against the non-protected data in the clouddatabase 250 The final search result will be rendered and sent back tothe one or more client devices 205, 210, and 215 to display as aresponse to the original search request.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of method 1000 for federated search in oneembodiment according to the present invention. Implementations of orprocessing in method 1000 depicted in FIG. 10 may be performed bysoftware (e.g., instructions or code modules) when executed by a centralprocessing unit (CPU or processor) of a logic machine, such as acomputer system or information processing device, by hardware componentsof an electronic device or application-specific integrated circuits, orby combinations of software and hardware elements. Method 1000 depictedin FIG. 10 begins in step 1010.

In step 1010, a query is received. For example, the one or more clientdevices 205, 210, and 215 can construct a query from informationprovided by a user and the cloud-based application 245 can receive thequery from the one or more client devices 205, 210, and 215. The querycan include search criteria applicable to protected and non-protectedfields, e.g., a search of a person's first and last name where the firstname is non-protected data but the last name is protected data. In step1020, search criteria related to protected fields is sent to a datasecurity provider such as the PRS server 235. In one embodiment, the oneor more client devices 205, 210, and 215 send the entire query to PRSserver 220 for processing on protected fields. PRS server 235 can thensend the search results together with the original query to cloud-basedapplication 230. For example, in step 1030, search criteria related topublic fields is sent to a cloud-based application together with resultof protected fields search. In some embodiments, the search criteria foreach private database 225 and cloud database 235 can be sentindependently.

In step 1040, any final results of the search are rendered usingprotected fields results and cloud search results. In one embodiment,when a user initiates a search, if any of the search criteria is onprotected fields, PRS server 220 can apply the search against privatedatabase 225. PRS server can generate a result sets as a set ofqualified rows identified by the row keys. The set of row keys are thensent to a search request for cloud-based application 230. Whencloud-based application 230 handles the request, the qualified set ofrow keys will be used to filter out the final search result. Only thefinal search result will be rendered and sent back to client device 215to display.

The final search result includes a combination of cloud data andtokenized/encrypted data that satisfied the search criteria againstprivate database 240. The tokenized/encrypted data can be replaced withdata from private database 240 before being displayed by the one or moreclient devices 205, 210, and 215. Accordingly, search results from boththe private database 240 and the cloud-database 250 can be federated toprovide a more seamless search experience to the user.

VIII. Hardware Environment

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofembodiments of the invention. However, it will be apparent that variousembodiments may be practiced without these specific details. The figuresand description are not intended to be restrictive.

Systems depicted in some of the figures may be provided in variousconfigurations. In some embodiments, the systems may be configured as adistributed system where one or more components of the system aredistributed across one or more networks in a cloud computing system.

FIG. 11 depicts a simplified diagram of a distributed system 1100 forimplementing one of the embodiments. In the illustrated embodiment,distributed system 1100 includes one or more client computing devices1102, 1104, 1106, and 1108, which are configured to execute and operatea client application such as a web browser, proprietary client (e.g.,Oracle Forms), or the like over one or more network(s) 1110. Server 1112may be communicatively coupled with remote client computing devices1102, 1104, 1106, and 1108 via network 1110.

In various embodiments, server 1112 may be adapted to run one or moreservices or software applications provided by one or more of thecomponents of the system. In some embodiments, these services may beoffered as web-based or cloud services or under a Software as a Service(SaaS) model to the users of client computing devices 1102, 1104, 1106,and/or 1108. Users operating client-computing devices 1102, 1104, 1106,and/or 1108 may in turn utilize one or more client applications tointeract with server 1112 to utilize the services provided by thesecomponents.

In the configuration depicted in the figure, the software components1118, 1120 and 1122 of system 1100 are shown as being implemented onserver 1112. In other embodiments, one or more of the components ofsystem 1100 and/or the services provided by these components may also beimplemented by one or more of the client computing devices 1102, 1104,1106, and/or 1108. Users operating the client computing devices may thenutilize one or more client applications to use the services provided bythese components. These components may be implemented in hardware,firmware, software, or combinations thereof. It should be appreciatedthat various different system configurations are possible, which may bedifferent from distributed system 1100. The embodiment shown in thefigure is thus one example of a distributed system for implementing anembodiment system and is not intended to be limiting.

Client computing devices 1102, 1104, 1106, and/or 1108 may be portablehandheld devices (e.g., an iPhone®, cellular telephone, an iPad®,computing tablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA)) or wearabledevices (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounted display), running softwaresuch as Microsoft Windows Mobile®, and/or a variety of mobile operatingsystems such as iOS, Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry 10, Palm OS, andthe like, and being Internet, e-mail, short message service (SMS),Blackberry®, or other communication protocol enabled. The clientcomputing devices can be general-purpose personal computers including,by way of example, personal computers and/or laptop computers runningvarious versions of Microsoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linuxoperating systems. The client computing devices can be workstationcomputers running any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX® orUNIX-like operating systems, including without limitation the variety ofGNU/Linux operating systems, such as for example, Google Chrome OS.Alternatively, or in addition, client computing devices 1102, 1104,1106, and 1108 may be any other electronic device, such as a thin-clientcomputer, an Internet-enabled gaming system (e.g., a Microsoft Xboxgaming console with or without a Kinect® gesture input device), and/or apersonal messaging device, capable of communicating over network(s)1110.

Although exemplary distributed system 1100 is shown with four clientcomputing devices, any number of client computing devices may besupported. Other devices, such as devices with sensors, etc., mayinteract with server 1112.

Network(s) 1110 in distributed system 1100 may be any type of networkfamiliar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-availableprotocols, including without limitation TCP/IP (transmission controlprotocol/Internet protocol), SNA (systems network architecture), IPX(Internet packet exchange), AppleTalk, and the like. Merely by way ofexample, network(s) 1110 can be a local area network (LAN), such as onebased on Ethernet, Token-Ring and/or the like. Network(s) 1110 can be awide-area network and the Internet. It can include a virtual network,including without limitation a virtual private network (VPN), anintranet, an extranet, a public switched telephone network (PSTN), aninfra-red network, a wireless network (e.g., a network operating underany of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics (IEEE) 802.11 suiteof protocols, Bluetooth®, and/or any other wireless protocol); and/orany combination of these and/or other networks.

Server 1112 may be composed of one or more general purpose computers,specialized server computers (including, by way of example, PC (personalcomputer) servers, UNIX® servers, mid-range servers, mainframecomputers, rack-mounted servers, etc.), server farms, server clusters,or any other appropriate arrangement and/or combination. In variousembodiments, server 1112 may be adapted to run one or more services orsoftware applications described in the foregoing disclosure. Forexample, server 1112 may correspond to a server for performingprocessing described above according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Server 1112 may run an operating system including any of those discussedabove, as well as any commercially available server operating system.Server 1112 may also run any of a variety of additional serverapplications and/or mid-tier applications, including HTTP (hypertexttransport protocol) servers, FTP (file transfer protocol) servers, CGI(common gateway interface) servers, JAVA® servers, database servers, andthe like. Exemplary database servers include without limitation thosecommercially available from Oracle, Microsoft, Sybase, IBM(International Business Machines), and the like.

In some implementations, server 1112 may include one or moreapplications to analyze and consolidate data feeds and/or event updatesreceived from users of client computing devices 1102, 1104, 1106, and1108. As an example, data feeds and/or event updates may include, butare not limited to, Twitter® feeds, Facebook® updates or real-timeupdates received from one or more third party information sources andcontinuous data streams, which may include real-time events related tosensor data applications, financial tickers, network performancemeasuring tools (e.g., network monitoring and traffic managementapplications), clickstream analysis tools, automobile trafficmonitoring, and the like. Server 1112 may also include one or moreapplications to display the data feeds and/or real-time events via oneor more display devices of client computing devices 1102, 1104, 1106,and 1108.

Distributed system 1100 may also include one or more databases 1114 and1116. Databases 1114 and 1116 may reside in a variety of locations. Byway of example, one or more of databases 1114 and 1116 may reside on anon-transitory storage medium local to (and/or resident in) server 1112.Alternatively, databases 1114 and 1116 may be remote from server 1112and in communication with server 1112 via a network-based or dedicatedconnection. In one set of embodiments, databases 1114 and 1116 mayreside in a storage-area network (SAN). Similarly, any necessary filesfor performing the functions attributed to server 1112 may be storedlocally on server 1112 and/or remotely, as appropriate. In one set ofembodiments, databases 1114 and 1116 may include relational databases,such as databases provided by Oracle, that are adapted to store, update,and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary computer system 1200, in which variousembodiments of the present invention may be implemented. The system 1200may be used to implement any of the computer systems described above. Asshown in the figure, computer system 1200 includes a processing unit1204 that communicates with a number of peripheral subsystems via a bussubsystem 1202. These peripheral subsystems may include a processingacceleration unit 1206, an I/O subsystem 1208, a storage subsystem 1218,and a communications subsystem 1224. Storage subsystem 1218 includestangible computer-readable storage media 1222 and a system memory 1210.

Bus subsystem 1202 provides a mechanism for letting the variouscomponents and subsystems of computer system 1200 communicate with eachother as intended. Although bus subsystem 1202 is shown schematically asa single bus, alternative embodiments of the bus subsystem may utilizemultiple buses. Bus subsystem 1202 may be any of several types of busstructures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. Forexample, such architectures may include an Industry StandardArchitecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, EnhancedISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) localbus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, which can beimplemented as a Mezzanine bus manufactured to the IEEE P1386.1standard.

Processing unit 1204, which can be implemented as one or more integratedcircuits (e.g., a conventional microprocessor or microcontroller),controls the operation of computer system 1200. One or more processorsmay be included in processing unit 1204. These processors may includesingle core or multicore processors. In certain embodiments, processingunit 1204 may be implemented as one or more independent processing units1232 and/or 1234 with single or multicore processors included in eachprocessing unit. In other embodiments, processing unit 1204 may also beimplemented as a quad-core processing unit formed by integrating twodual-core processors into a single chip.

In various embodiments, processing unit 1204 can execute a variety ofprograms in response to program code and can maintain multipleconcurrently executing programs or processes. At any given time, some orall of the program code to be executed can be resident in processor(s)1204 and/or in storage subsystem 1218. Through suitable programming,processor(s) 1204 can provide various functionalities described above.Computer system 1200 may additionally include a processing accelerationunit 1206, which can include a digital signal processor (DSP), aspecial-purpose processor, and/or the like.

I/O subsystem 1208 may include user interface input devices and userinterface output devices. User interface input devices may include akeyboard, pointing devices such as a mouse or trackball, a touchpad ortouch screen incorporated into a display, a scroll wheel, a click wheel,a dial, a button, a switch, a keypad, audio input devices with voicecommand recognition systems, microphones, and other types of inputdevices. User interface input devices may include, for example, motionsensing and/or gesture recognition devices such as the Microsoft Kinect®motion sensor that enables users to control and interact with an inputdevice, such as the Microsoft Xbox® 360 game controller, through anatural user interface using gestures and spoken commands. Userinterface input devices may also include eye gesture recognition devicessuch as the Google Glass® blink detector that detects eye activity(e.g., ‘blinking’ while taking pictures and/or making a menu selection)from users and transforms the eye gestures as input into an input device(e.g., Google Glass®). Additionally, user interface input devices mayinclude voice recognition sensing devices that enable users to interactwith voice recognition systems (e.g., Siri® navigator), through voicecommands.

User interface input devices may also include, without limitation, threedimensional (3D) mice, joysticks or pointing sticks, gamepads andgraphic tablets, and audio/visual devices such as speakers, digitalcameras, digital camcorders, portable media players, webcams, imagescanners, fingerprint scanners, barcode reader 3D scanners, 3D printers,laser rangefinders, and eye gaze tracking devices. Additionally, userinterface input devices may include, for example, medical imaging inputdevices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging,position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography devices. Userinterface input devices may also include, for example, audio inputdevices such as MIDI keyboards, digital musical instruments and thelike.

User interface output devices may include a display subsystem, indicatorlights, or non-visual displays such as audio output devices, etc. Thedisplay subsystem may be a cathode ray tube (CRT), a flat-panel device,such as that using a liquid crystal display (LCD) or plasma display, aprojection device, a touch screen, and the like. In general, use of theterm “output device” is intended to include all possible types ofdevices and mechanisms for outputting information from computer system1200 to a user or other computer. For example, user interface outputdevices may include, without limitation, a variety of display devicesthat visually convey text, graphics and audio/video information such asmonitors, printers, speakers, headphones, automotive navigation systems,plotters, voice output devices, and modems.

Computer system 1200 may comprise a storage subsystem 1218 thatcomprises software elements, shown as being currently located within asystem memory 1210. System memory 1210 may store program instructionsthat are loadable and executable on processing unit 1204, as well asdata generated during the execution of these programs.

Depending on the configuration and type of computer system 1200, systemmemory 1210 may be volatile (such as random access memory (RAM)) and/ornon-volatile (such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.) TheRAM typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediatelyaccessible to and/or presently being operated and executed by processingunit 1204. In some implementations, system memory 1210 may includemultiple different types of memory, such as static random access memory(SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In some implementations,a basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines thathelp to transfer information between elements within computer system1200, such as during start-up, may typically be stored in the ROM. Byway of example, and not limitation, system memory 1210 also illustratesapplication programs 1212, which may include client applications, Webbrowsers, mid-tier applications, relational database management systems(RDBMS), etc., program data 1214, and an operating system 1216. By wayof example, operating system 1216 may include various versions ofMicrosoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linux operating systems, avariety of commercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-like operating systems(including without limitation the variety of GNU/Linux operatingsystems, the Google Chrome® OS, and the like) and/or mobile operatingsystems such as iOS, Windows® Phone, Android® OS, BlackBerry® 12 OS, andPalm® OS operating systems.

Storage subsystem 1218 may also provide a tangible computer-readablestorage medium for storing the basic programming and data constructsthat provide the functionality of some embodiments. Software (programs,code modules, instructions) that when executed by a processor providethe functionality described above may be stored in storage subsystem1218. These software modules or instructions may be executed byprocessing unit 1204. Storage subsystem 1218 may also provide arepository for storing data used in accordance with the presentinvention.

Storage subsystem 1200 may also include a computer-readable storagemedia reader 1220 that can further be connected to computer-readablestorage media 1222. Together and, optionally, in combination with systemmemory 1210, computer-readable storage media 1222 may comprehensivelyrepresent remote, local, fixed, and/or removable storage devices plusstorage media for temporarily and/or more permanently containing,storing, transmitting, and retrieving computer-readable information.

Computer-readable storage media 1222 containing code, or portions ofcode, can also include any appropriate media known or used in the art,including storage media and communication media, such as but not limitedto, volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage and/or transmissionof information. This can include tangible computer-readable storagemedia such as RAM, ROM, electronically erasable programmable ROM(EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disk (DVD), or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or other tangible computer readable media. This can also includenontangible computer-readable media, such as data signals, datatransmissions, or any other medium which can be used to transmit thedesired information and which can be accessed by computing system 1200.

By way of example, computer-readable storage media 1222 may include ahard disk drive that reads from or writes to non-removable, nonvolatilemagnetic media, a magnetic disk drive that reads from or writes to aremovable, nonvolatile magnetic disk, and an optical disk drive thatreads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk such as aCD ROM, DVD, and Blu-Ray® disk, or other optical media.Computer-readable storage media 1222 may include, but is not limited to,Zip® drives, flash memory cards, universal serial bus (USB) flashdrives, secure digital (SD) cards, DVD disks, digital video tape, andthe like. Computer-readable storage media 1222 may also include,solid-state drives (SSD) based on non-volatile memory such asflash-memory based SSDs, enterprise flash drives, solid state ROM, andthe like, SSDs based on volatile memory such as solid state RAM, dynamicRAM, static RAM, DRAM-based SSDs, magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) SSDs, andhybrid SSDs that use a combination of DRAM and flash memory based SSDs.The disk drives and their associated computer-readable media may providenon-volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules, and other data for computer system 1200.

Communications subsystem 1224 provides an interface to other computersystems and networks. Communications subsystem 1224 serves as aninterface for receiving data from and transmitting data to other systemsfrom computer system 1200. For example, communications subsystem 1224may enable computer system 1200 to connect to one or more devices viathe Internet. In some embodiments communications subsystem 1224 caninclude radio frequency (RF) transceiver components for accessingwireless voice and/or data networks (e.g., using cellular telephonetechnology, advanced data network technology, such as 3G, 4G or EDGE(enhanced data rates for global evolution), WiFi (IEEE 802.11 familystandards, or other mobile communication technologies, or anycombination thereof), global positioning system (GPS) receivercomponents, and/or other components. In some embodiments communicationssubsystem 1224 can provide wired network connectivity (e.g., Ethernet)in addition to or instead of a wireless interface.

In some embodiments, communications subsystem 1224 may also receiveinput communication in the form of structured and/or unstructured datafeeds 1226, event streams 1228, event updates 1230, and the like onbehalf of one or more users who may use computer system 1200.

By way of example, communications subsystem 1224 may be configured toreceive data feeds 1226 in real-time from users of social networksand/or other communication services such as Twitter® feeds, Facebook®updates, web feeds such as Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds, and/orreal-time updates from one or more third party information sources.

Additionally, communications subsystem 1224 may also be configured toreceive data in the form of continuous data streams, which may includeevent streams 1228 of real-time events and/or event updates 1230, thatmay be continuous or unbounded in nature with no explicit end. Examplesof applications that generate continuous data may include, for example,sensor data applications, financial tickers, network performancemeasuring tools (e.g. network monitoring and traffic managementapplications), clickstream analysis tools, automobile trafficmonitoring, and the like.

Communications subsystem 1224 may also be configured to output thestructured and/or unstructured data feeds 1226, event streams 1228,event updates 1230, and the like to one or more databases that may be incommunication with one or more streaming data source computers coupledto computer system 1200.

Computer system 1200 can be one of various types, including a handheldportable device (e.g., an iPhone® cellular phone, an iPad® computingtablet, a PDA), a wearable device (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounteddisplay), a PC, a workstation, a mainframe, a kiosk, a server rack, orany other data processing system.

Due to the ever-changing nature of computers and networks, thedescription of computer system 1200 depicted in the figure is intendedonly as a specific example. Many other configurations having more orfewer components than the system depicted in the figure are possible.For example, customized hardware might also be used and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, firmware, software (includingapplets), or a combination. Further, connection to other computingdevices, such as network input/output devices, may be employed. Based onthe disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skillin the art will appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement thevarious embodiments.

In the foregoing specification, aspects of the invention are describedwith reference to specific embodiments thereof, but those skilled in theart will recognize that the invention is not limited thereto. Variousfeatures and aspects of the above-described invention may be usedindividually or jointly. Further, embodiments can be utilized in anynumber of environments and applications beyond those described hereinwithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of thespecification. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to beregarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: providing, by a cloudinfrastructure system, an application programming interface (API) to adata model used by a cloud-based application of the cloud infrastructuresystem; receiving, by the cloud infrastructure system, a data modelconfiguration through the API, wherein the data model configurationindicates one or more protected attributes of an entity modeled usingthe data model, and the data model configuration is generated by a datasecurity provider monitoring communications between the cloud-basedapplication and a client device; determining, by the cloudinfrastructure system, one or more protected fields using the data modelconfiguration; determining, by the cloud infrastructure system, one ormore operations that can be performed by the cloud-based applicationusing the one or more protected fields, wherein the determiningcomprises examining operators on the one or more protected fields, andidentifying the one or more operations that can be performed against theone or more protected fields without the one or more operations becominginvalid based on the examining of the operators; and configuring, by thecloud infrastructure system, the cloud-based application to have the oneor more operations enabled based on the determination of the one or moreoperations that can be performed using the one or more protected fields.2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the data model configurationcomprises receiving the one or more protected attributes from the datasecurity provider.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the oneor more protected fields using the data model configuration comprisesdetermining which attributes of the data model have been designated asprotected fields.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the oneor more operations that can be performed using the one or more protectedfields comprises determine supported actions.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein determining the one or more operations that can be performedusing the one or more protected fields comprises determine unsupportedactions.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the cloud-basedapplication based on the one or more operations that can be performedusing the one or more protected fields comprises enabling a feature. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the cloud-based applicationbased on the one or more operations that can be performed using the oneor more protected fields comprises disabling a feature.
 8. Anon-transitory machine readable storage medium having instructionsstored thereon that when executed by one or more processors cause theone or more processors to perform a method comprising: providing anapplication programming interface (API) to a data model used by acloud-based application of a cloud infrastructure system; receiving adata model configuration through the API, wherein the data modelconfiguration indicates one or more protected attributes of an entitymodeled using the data model, and the data model configuration isgenerated by a data security provider monitoring communications betweenthe cloud-based application and a client device; determining one or moreprotected fields using the data model configuration; determining one ormore operations that can be performed by the cloud-based applicationusing the one or more protected fields, wherein the determiningcomprises examining operators on the one or more protected fields, andidentifying the one or more operations that can be performed against theone or more protected fields without the one or more operations becominginvalid based on the examining of the operators; and configuring thecloud-based application to have the one or more operations enabled basedon the determination of the one or more operations that can be performedusing the one or more protected fields.
 9. The non-transitory machinereadable storage medium of claim 8, wherein receiving the data modelconfiguration comprises receiving the one or more protected attributesfrom the data security provider.
 10. The non-transitory machine readablestorage medium of claim 8, wherein determining the one or more protectedfields using the data model configuration comprises determining whichattributes of the data model have been designated as protected fields.11. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 8,wherein determining the one or more operations that can be performedusing the one or more protected fields comprises determine supportedactions.
 12. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim8, wherein determining the one or more operations that can be performedusing the one or more protected fields comprises determine unsupportedactions.
 13. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim8, wherein configuring the cloud-based application based on the one ormore operations that can be performed using the one or more protectedfields comprises enabling a feature.
 14. A system comprising: aprocessor; and a memory storing a set of instructions which whenexecuted by the processor cause the processor to: provide an applicationprogramming interface (API) to a data model used by a cloud-basedapplication of a cloud infrastructure system receive a data modelconfiguration through the API, wherein the data model configurationindicates one or more protected attributes of an entity modeled usingthe data model, and the data model configuration is generated by a datasecurity provider monitoring communications between the cloud-basedapplication and a client device; determine one or more protected fieldsusing the data model configuration; determine one or more operationsthat can be performed by the cloud-based application using the one ormore protected fields, wherein the determining comprises examiningoperators on the one or more protected fields, and identifying the oneor more operations that can be performed against the one or moreprotected fields without the one or more operations becoming invalidbased on the examining of the operators; and configure the cloud-basedapplication to have the one or more operations enabled based on thedetermination of the one or more operations that can be performed usingthe one or more protected fields.
 15. The system of claim 14, whereinreceiving the data model configuration comprises receiving the one ormore protected attributes from the data security provider.
 16. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein determining the one or more protected fieldsusing the data model configuration comprises determining whichattributes of the data model have been designated as protected fields.17. The system of claim 14, wherein determining the one or moreoperations that can be performed using the one or more protected fieldscomprises determine supported actions.
 18. The system of claim 14,wherein determining the one or more operations that can be performedusing the one or more protected fields comprises determine unsupportedactions.
 19. The system of claim 14, wherein configuring the cloud-basedapplication based on the one or more operations that can be performedusing the one or more protected fields comprises enabling a feature. 20.The system of claim 19, wherein configuring the cloud-based applicationbased on the one or more operations that can be performed using the oneor more protected fields comprises disabling a feature.